Mount Fuji is Japan’s crown jewel of mountains. While the active stratovolcano is magnificent to view from a distance — especially painted with early morning light on its eastern face — to truly experience it, you’ve got to lace up a pair of hiking shoes.
Each summer, more than 300,000 people attempt the climb to the 12,389-foot summit. Many visitors choose to take a bus — the Keio Express bus from Shinjuku is a popular option — up to the Kawaguchiko Gogome 5th Station to start their ascent. Of the four climbing routes up Mount Fuji, Yoshida Trail is considered one of the easiest; the average ascent takes six hours, and the descent takes about three hours.
Pro tip: Attempt to reach the summit in time for sunrise. The inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun even have a unique word for witnessing such an auspicious occasion from a mountain: goraiko (the coming of light).
The Japan National Tourism Organization’s website provides options for booking guided tours of Mount Fuji. Following the climb, take a well-deserved soak in a Hakone hot spring before heading back to Tokyo.
